Moment of Inertia in Light Nuclei

Moments of inertia for the ground-state bands of a few light nuclei are calculated using exact cranking, the Skyrme-Levinson variational method, approximate projection, and the formulas of Inglis and of Thouless and Valatin. It is found that the first three methods yield almost identical values which are rather different from the last two. In addition, the first three methods satisfy the Kelson test very well, whereas the last two do not. This provides further confirmation that the first three methods give dependable moments of inertia. Reasons for the agreement of exact cranking, the Skyrme-Levinson method, and the approximate projection method are given.